On Saturday 7th December Friends of Glossop Station welcomed the return of Father Christmas to the station! Arriving on time at 11.48 from Lapland by train Santa made his way down the platform to be greeted by an excited crowd of around 80 children, Mums, Dads and grand-parents.In the waiting room Santa greeted every child and gave out a free gift. Joining in the fun were Bunty Gibson and Eve Halbert who supplied satsumas in the time honoured Christmas tradition!Seasonal music was supplied by Altrincham based quartet SPINDRIFT and it was a genuine pleasure to have them back again. We thank them for their very generous donation! Alongside them GLOSSOP MODEL RAILWAY CLUB with a new layout for children to enjoy. Kept busy were Caroline England and Christine Kimpton on the craftmaking stall. This had been organised by Andrea Strogen with materials kindly supplied by Simon Denvers. Decorations for the tree kindly donated by Glossop Garden Centre soon started to appear! Glossop Gardeners' stalwarts Sue Astles and Chris Harris helped with this year's raffle with generous prizes from Northern Rail and METTRICKS. Keeping everyone warm were Jacqueline Horne and Penny Greenwood with refreshments. Mathew Cox added gravitas in Victorian Station Master's costume and Paul Kiddy helped give out new rail timetables to promote the Sunday start of the revisions to the local service.Our guest this year was ADRIAN THOMPSON Northern Rail's Director of Human Resources. Adrian had paid an official visit earlier on in the year and his good humour made him an ideal choice for the Christmas Lights switch on role! Accompanied by his wife and young son, Adrian toured the station gala and was very complimentary about the decorations and the organisation of the event. He was presented with a gift of Rocky Road cake made by Bunty and a framed poster showing him as WANTED IN GLOSSOP created by Paul Marsh who also made this year's excellent promotional posters! Theo, our Line Manager, also joined in the fun with his wife and family. As always Theo is fundamental to the event and we appreciate the continued trust he shows us.Our thanks to all who helped with the event. To John Kimpton and Chris Strogen for photos (click here to see a selection) and thanks to Northern Rail for its generous supply of gifts allowing Santa to present them free - the true spirit of Christmas we feel. We thank Don Jary Client and Stakeholder Manager West for organising this and to Theo for collecting them. And to Ian Dalton of Northern for a major role in the event. We'd also like to thank Glossop Station Staff for their help - to Steve in particular on the day itself and to Keith and his hard work in promoting it. Also to Mike from G4S and BTP police Janine and colleague for attending in good humour! And huge thanks to FOGS' Eric Pass for his patience in helping set up and secure the tree and sort out the electrics. Eric's quiet background work is essential to the success of the Gala!FOGS hopes everyone passing through the station enjoys the festive decorations and we thank everyone for their continued support of events at Glossop Station. We hope too that the photos capture the spirit of the day!Our best wishes for a Happy Christmas and a healthy, prosperous New Year!